How to prepare your Gaming Business for the UK Credit Card Ban

The Gambling Commission of Great Britain recently announced its plans to ban gambling businesses from accepting credit cards. Main casino and sports betting websites currently allow players to make deposits using credit cards in the UK. The new regulations come into force on 14 April 2020 and gaming companies must rapidly adapt their business operations to comply with the new rules.

The UK has 10.5 million adults gambling online, the ban directly affects bettors using credit card as a payment method, eight hundred thousand users based on UK Finance estimates. Here are some tips to help you successfully prepare your gaming operations to this new scenario.

Offer a Wide Variety of Alternative Payment Options

Cater for as many safe, legal and compliant payment options as possible. By offering your customers their preferred payment choice, you increase your conversions and loyalty while quickly gaining their trust.

E-wallets, instant transfers, cryptocurrencies, payment gateways, and pre-paid cards. An extensive range of payment methods and services is available in the market. Talk to your merchant acquirer, your account manager can help you build a flexi-smart payment portfolio to accommodate your players’ preferences and comply with the new piece of regulation:

Debit cards And Prepaid cards– The upcoming prohibition is expected to stand for the credit function only. Players are still allowed to pay with Visa or Mastercard if using the debit or prepaid functions.

Digital Wallets: Perhaps the best alternative available**. The popularity of E-wallet payment systems is increasing at every turn and mobile payment users in the UK may reach 10 million by 2021. Make sure to have in place a payment platform that integrates with the most popular ewallets out there: – Alipay, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

**However, please note that the credit ban will also apply to credit card payments made through e-wallets such as PayPal, for example.

Talk to your Audience (Communicate)

Build a communication plan, setting a clear timeframe from when and how information will be shared. Create written guidelines and Q&A documentation your staff and stakeholders can use for consultation purposes. Train your customer support team to effectively handle inquiries about the credit card ban and the company next steps. Walk your players through the changes making sure they know what to expect. Let them know the alternative payment methods you are planning to offer and by when those options will be available.

An efficient communication approach is essential for keeping happy customers and for building trust-based relationships.

Credit card ban or no ban, the payment process is an important part of your customer journey and players will form an opinion about your services also based on how easy and seamless the payment experience is for them. Teaming up with an experienced payment solution provider with gaming expertise will boost the growth of your operations.

Give preference to omnichannel payment solutions, or payment companies that can offer you merchant acquiring bank unified with a secure payment gateway.

With an integrated payment ecosystem, you can build a consistent, unified customer journey across the different sales channels.

This will also lower your costs. Taking on a payment company as both gateway and acquiring provider increases the likelihood of striking a better deal, they would be more inclined to offer you better rates on their services than if you use only one part of their business.

acquiring.com (powered by TRU//ST Payments) offer flexible, international payment gateway and acquiring services that help businesses to build robust, slick and reliable E-commerce platforms. As an acquiring bank and direct member of Visa and MasterCard, acquiring.com offer merchants faster service and more competitive overall commercials. To find out how we can help your business to grow and achieve greater success, get in touch with our team of experts today.

DISCLAIMER: “In acquiring.com we always achieve to deliver a solution to facilitate all your compliance and regulation duties. We always aim to fully comply with the new regulations, as we always strive for compliance and proper implementation of all the applicable directives, rules and guidelines coming from regulators, VISA and MasterCard card associations and from any other applicable public authorities and/or other institutions.”

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